


Vacation, Interrupted (Again)

by rushie



Category: Nancy Drew (Video Games)
Genre: implied Francy, interrupted vacation, post-MID, spoiler-free
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-06
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:00:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21693445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rushie/pseuds/rushie
Summary: Remember that mystery-free vacation Nancy promised Ned? Yeah...
Relationships: Nancy Drew/Frank Hardy, Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	Vacation, Interrupted (Again)

Nancy pads into the bathroom, her hands in the pockets of her fluffy hotel robe. The tile is cool against her feet. In the bedroom, Ned is still in his pajamas, pushing some clothes around in his suitcase. Nancy glances over her shoulder at him, but he doesn’t look up, and she nudges the door closed with her foot, locking it for good measure. The shower is just a stall, light blue tile surrounded by glass. She reaches in and around the glass wall and turns the knob. The showerhead sputters, spitting out gasping bursts of water, before making a coughing sound and finally turning on fully, water drumming against the floor tiles. She listens for a moment, her head cocked to the side. Then she moves past the shower and toward the toilet, as far from the door to the bedroom that she can get. Only then does she extract her cell phone from the robe pocket. She unlocks it and dials, leans back against the wall to wait. It rings twice before someone picks up.

“Nancy?” asks Joe Hardy. He sounds happy to talk to her, as always, but also surprised. “To what do we owe the honor?”

Nancy glances to the bedroom door. She keeps her voice low. “Joe, hi. I need you to look something up for me.”

Vacation has been going very nicely. Austria is beautiful, and it’s nice to be completing her trip this time. There has, however, been one small snag: this mystery-free vacation was, maybe unsurprisingly, turning out to be very mystery-heavy. Nancy can’t resist, even though she knows she should, and she can’t let it go, but there is an added challenge to this investigation: Ned can’t find out. She’d promised him no mysteries. Investigating around him has been difficult, but a little extra help will go a long way in assisting her subterfuge. With any luck, she can have this wrapped up by the next day, put in a tip to the proper authorities, and enjoy the rest of her vacation in peace.

Joe’s response is immediate. “Yeah, sure, name it,” he says. She hears some rustling in the background, a click-clack of computer keys. “You need it right now?”

“No,” she whispers. She’s pressing her mouth practically into the phone. The fact that Joe can understand her is a miracle. “You’ll have to call me back. I don’t have a lot of time.”

“Oh, right,” says Joe. “You’re on vacation. Hey--is that a waterfall I hear in the background? Are you in  _ Hawaii _ ?”

“She’s in Austria, Joe, remember?” says Frank. “Nancy, hi.”

“Hi, Frank.” Her stomach does something fluttery and complicated. She presses her hand to it. Probably hunger. She hasn’t had breakfast yet. 

“So what do you need us to—”

There’s a knock on the bathroom door. “Nance?” Ned calls through. “I’m going to go down to the gym. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay,” she calls back, pulling her mouth away from the phone. “I’m going to go down and get breakfast after I get dressed.”

“Sounds good. I’ll meet you down there.”

“Great. See you there!”

“See me where?” asks Joe.

“Not you!” Nancy whispers into the phone. She can hear Ned outside in the bedroom, moving around, and then the opening and closing of the hotel room door. She waits.

“Nan, what—”

“Hang on.”

She waits a moment longer, then sighs. It’s a relief to turn off the shower. The bathroom was starting to get steamy, and it was making her sleepy. It’s bought her some time, Ned going to the gym. She cups her elbow with her free hand.

When she speaks again, it’s in her normal volume. “So we’re staying at this castle—”

“Let me guess,” says Frank. There’s a wry twist to his voice that makes Nancy’s own mouth twitch up into a smile. “Your mystery-free vacation is turning out to be not so mystery-free?”

“You know me,” she says.

“What do you need?” asks Joe.

“Well—”

The sound of the hotel room door unlocking startles her. She flings herself back to the shower and grabs the knob to turn the water back on just as the door opens. She twists. Water sprays. The knob comes off in her hand.

“Just me!” calls Ned. “Forgot my earphones. See you downstairs!”

Nancy doesn’t answer this time. She’s staring at the shower knob in her hand. It isn’t the kind you can just pop back on. It’s definitely broken. Steam rises from the shower and is sucked into the air vent in the ceiling. 

“Guys,” she says into the phone. A headache is forming behind her eyes. “I’m gonna have to call you back.”


End file.
